Conventional curtain rods which are adapted with pull cords to open and close a curtain are called traverse rods. Usually the curtain is supported on master and idler carriers which slide on a track defined by a slot in the rear or underneath surface of the rod. At each end of the rod is a pulley case which serves both to house pulleys for the draw cord and to support the rod by means of brackets connected between the pulley case and the adjacent supporting wall. At one end of the rod, the draw cord extends downwardly from the pulley case, where it either hangs freely or terminates at a tension pulley located near the floor. At the other end of the rod, the draw cord remains within the rod and reverses direction by passing around a pulley. When long rods are employed, they are often supported additionally by a central bracket which is secured to the wall or window frame and to the top of the rod in such a way as to permit the master and idler carriers to slide freely under the bracket.
The conventional way to increase the load-bearing capacity of such rods and brackets in order to accommodate heavier and thicker curtains, is simply to increase the size and/or the strength of the materials employed. The load-bearing demands, however, do not increase merely in direct proportion to the increase in weight and thickness of the curtain, but geometrically. Thus, the farther away from the wall, the curtain must hang, the longer is the lever arm acting on the brackets. This increases the burden on the connections of the bracket to the wall by the product of the added weight multiplied by the ratio of the increase of the lever arm, and thereby requires much larger bracket supports than would be required merely to support the extra weight the same distance from the wall. In addition, the tension of the draw cord aggravates the problem. Heavier and thicker curtains, of course, require more force to pull them opened and closed, but here again the pulley case at the end of the rod from which the draw cord exits, will be located further away from the wall for thicker curtains, and hence the lever arm of the supporting brackets against which the force of the cord acts at the end of the arm, will be increased, and disproportionately large bracket supports are required.
The result has been effectively to discourage the installation of heavy and thick curtains such as "woven wood" type curtains except in professionally designed and custom built installations. To date there has been no readily available traverse rod and support combination suitable for use in the consumer or "do it yourself" market which can also support thick and heavy curtains such as woven wood. A basic object of the present invention is to provide such a rod and support combination with a minimum of increase in size and/or strength of materials over conventional traverse rods.